All language subtitles for Pathological.The.Lies.of.Joran.van.der.Sloot.2024.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH.eng

[seagulls calling]

[ominous music]

* *

- OK...

so what happens?

* *

- Um...

I'm actually with, uh...

with Natalee
walking along the beach.

We lay down together
in the sand...

[waves sloshing]

And we start
kissing each other.

I start feeling her up again,
she tells me no.

- Joran, Joran!

- It's a name we'd hope
we never have to hear again,

Joran van der Sloot.

- She's laying down
unconscious...

[indistinct chatter]

Possibly even, uh, even dead.

I decide to take her
and to put her into the ocean.

- That's not what happened.
I'm convinced of that.

* *

- There's absolutely
no reason to believe me.

I would probably not
believe myself, no.

- This kid got away with it.

So why does he
kill another person

when he was as free as a bird?

- Joran, Joran!

- Joran van der Sloot,

a suspect
in the disappearance

of Natalee Holloway,
is now the number one suspect

in the murder of a young woman
here in Lima.

* *

- [speaking Spanish]

- He shows absolutely
no remorse.

He shows such a lack
of concern.

But if you don't
think that this story

could get any darker,

stand by, because it does.

- A surprising development
in a mystery

going back almost 20 years.

- Van der Sloot is accused of

offering to tell
Natalee's family

where she was buried
in exchange for $1/4 million.

- To come up with this
master plan of extorting

the grieving mother,
it's so far beyond

what you would expect even
a psychopathic killer to do.

- 18 years later, my mom is
standing in the courthouse

within feet of the guy that--

that killed my sister.

- He has single-handedly
destroyed everyone around him

just for his own selfish
existence on this earth.

- [stifled sob]

* *

- It's just important for
everyone to know the truth.

* *

- He's incapable
of telling the truth.

He's a pathological liar.

- [speaking Spanish]

- Mm...

[suspenseful music]

[speaking Spanish]

* *

* *

- First, a very serious story.

A high school senior
from Alabama is missing today.

She disappeared during
a trip to Aruba.

She was there celebrating
her graduation.

- Nicknamed "Hootie,"

Natalee went to Aruba
on a senior trip.

- This story just broke
across the wires today.

We're going to be following
it up on it tomorrow.

[somber music]

* *

- I remember sitting
on the bus

and one of our chaperones
saying, you know,

has anyone seen Natalee?

Everyone is here
except for Natalee.

* *

And so at first,

she must have, like, been
sleeping through her alarm.

Um...

But then very, very quickly,
it took a pretty scary turn.

* *

She wasn't in her room.

She wasn't on the beach.

We collectively started
trying to understand, like,

who saw her last
and who was she with.

A lot of us were not prepared
to leave without her.

We were all just devastated.
Just devastated.

This is what our
parents had always

told us to be careful of.

* *

- Natalee is a good girl
from a good family,

straight-A student, she's
about to go off to college.

- All right.
Who's our special guest today?

- It's Hootie.
- Hootie Hoo Holloway.

- Hi, friend.

Just, you know,
sitting in the back,

cruising over to my place.

- Called her Hootie.
She was hilarious.

- There's Hootie.

- But if she liked or didn't
like something, you knew.

A fearless friend,
so completely herself.

Like so silly, so fun,
so smart.

- She had a full scholarship
to the University of Alabama.

Her plan was to do pre-med.

She earned that.
She worked so hard.

I have no doubt
that she would

be the best physician
out there.

[marching band music playing]

- How could this happen?

When you were watching this,

you just wanted the worst-case
scenario not to be true.

- She's approximately 5'5".
She weighs about 110 pounds.

- Beth Holloway is
absolutely convinced

that something has happened.

She's desperate
to find Natalee,

and she actually arranges
to be flown down to the island.

[suspenseful music]

- By the time we were home,
Beth was in Aruba.

We all gathered at my house,

just trying
to rack our brains,

relay any information that
we possibly can back to Beth.

* *

Within hours,
we had realized who Joran was.

* *

One friend could describe him
and she could name him.

- Beth goes to the Holiday Inn
where Natalee had been staying.

* *

[indistinct chatter]

And at the desk is a woman
who remembers Natalee.

And when Beth says
the name Joran,

she knows exactly who he is.

He's here often.

- She said, oh,
that's Joran van der Sloot,

he likes to prey upon
young female tourists.

When I heard that,
I was like, oh, my gosh.

Oh dear God, you know,
he got one, you know?

* *

- [speaking Spanish]

- She didn't answer her phone,
so it was not normal.

My dad got worried,

and he started
to call all her friends.

[somber music]

Then we find out that the
last place that they saw her

was entering to the casino.

[suspenseful music]

[car horn honks]

- The family approached
the owner of the casino.

They bring the Flores' family
into the back room

and they start
matching up the cameras.

* *

They find Stephany.

They see the guy
standing next to her.

You see them
on the casino floor.

They're gambling together

and this is
camera after camera,

just one angle
cutting to the next.

* *

You can trace their movements
through the casino

until they walk out of the
casino into the dark together.

So at that point,
they have a face.

They don't have a name yet,

but Joran had registered
for a prize at the casino.

So when he registered
for that,

he put down his name.

So all of a sudden,
they have a name,

they have a face,

punched it into the internet,
oh, my God.

- And at that moment,
we find out who he was.

- They're frantic.

There's just howls
and shrieking

and they know that the
daughter's probably dead.

- [sobs]

[waves sloshing]

- It was Natalee who asked me
to go out with her.

It was her that asked me
to come to the club.

It was her that was yelling
at me to go dance with her.

- Psychiatrists aren't allowed
to diagnose public figures

without having
personally assessed them.

That said, everything
I've read about him

is consistent with
what you would see

if he were psychopathic.

Externalizing blame is
a real hallmark of psychopathy

where everything
is somebody else's fault.

It's never your fault.

You can always come
up with a reason

that somebody else
is really to blame.

- She came to me, she was
the one that talked to me.

And she wanted to
come with us

and...it was probably
a bad choice.

We probably should
have told her

she had to get out of the car.

And then you never know
what would have happened.

- The teenager was last seen
leaving this establishment

on Monday morning at 1:30.

[ominous music]

- That night, Natalee
was one of my buddies.

[upbeat music playing]

A lot of us are up on the bar

dancing and talking,
and I snapped a photo.

[camera shutter clicks]

And you can see Natalee
talking to one of our friends,

and we were just
having a great time.

So when we were all ready
to go home, we were starving,

and we were at the food truck

right outside
Carlos'n Charlie's.

And this is when
I saw Natalee in a car.

* *

The car was silver...

and she was in the back seat.

I can see her waving to us.

I see it so vividly.

She was really happy.

She was laughing and singing
and waving to us.

And so we literally were like,

oh, how funny,
there goes Natalee.

I guess she got a ride home.

And...

* *

That was the last time
we saw her.

[suspenseful music]

* *

- Her parents showed up
at my door with her picture.

I didn't even know who
Natalee Holloway was.

I didn't even know her name.

* *

- Beth is really anxious.

She's very worried
about her daughter.

Now she has a name,
she's able to get an address.

And she goes back to
the police station

because she wants help.

* *

- I knew a lot
of the police guys.

On a small island,
we grow up together.

I spoke English
like an American.

And I looked more American

than some of the other people
trying to help.

So I said I'd be glad to
help in any way I could.

* *

Beth was very grieving
and very frustrated,

but she was definitely
on a mission.

I asked the police, do you
know where the guy lives?

And she said, yeah, yeah.

So we went and
we drove around the house.

[insects droning]

And I saw the silver car.

So I felt settled in that
we were at the right place.

- Police knock on the door.

Joran van der Sloot's father,
Paulus, answers the door.

- Then father said to Joran,
tell them what you know.

And Joran said, no, I don't
know anything about her.

I don't know who it is.
I did meet her.

We went out
and had some drinks.

But no,
that's as far as it goes.

And I said,
you better tell the truth.

Whatever it is,
if you did nothing, say that.

Don't lie because you're going
to get in a lot of trouble.

And then he said we took her
to the Holiday Inn.

And at the Holiday Inn,
she got out and she tripped.

When she tripped,
she banged her head,

then went into
the Holiday Inn,

but never came back
and they left.

* *

The feeling I got was that
he wasn't solid, you know.

It's just a feeling
that you get

from people when
they're not solid

about what they're saying.

I didn't know if he was guilty,

but I did feel that
he wasn't innocent.

* *

And at that point,

father looked at the crowd
and he said that's it.

- Joran van der Sloot's family

was very influential
on the island.

His mother was well-known
and well-liked.

She was a schoolteacher.

His father was a prominent
lawyer up for a judgeship.

- Joran had moved to Aruba
when he was a young boy,

but he'd been born
back in the Netherlands

and the father wanted to work
his way up in the legal ranks,

and maybe going to
a far-flung outpost

was a way for him
to get a judgeship.

So the family wound up
in this island paradise.

[seagulls calling]

For a teenage boy,
there was a lot to do.

He had kind of
the run of the island

and he had a mean streak.

[ominous music]

- I mean, we had heard
that he had anger issues.

We would hear that
from former girlfriends

or people who knew the family.

- There had been reports
of his abuse of animals.

He had thrown a homeless man
off of a bridge,

much to his amusement.

* *

- There were reports
from women on the island

that he had harassed or
sexually pressured young girls.

One of the girls
was as young as 12.

But the problem was
any of the women

who had come forward
were so frightened

by this media that was
now on the island

that we really were
never able to get

a full picture of what
exactly had transpired.

* *

Joran was creating some
tension in the home as well.

He had two younger brothers

and was bullying one
in particular.

- And at that point,
the family said,

OK, this has gone on too far.

- Deliberately harming
an innocent victim

just for the fun of it,
stealing, lying,

when you start seeing not just

one kind of
antisocial behavior,

but a whole range of them,
that's when you start

suspecting a kid has
a real disorder of aggression.

These are children who
are at risk

of becoming psychopathic
as adults.

- His mother, Anita,
did seek help

and did have Joran speak
with a therapist on the island.

And at one point,
Joran was moved from the house

and into this guest cottage
where he could be on his own

and there was
a physical separation

between the brothers.

- And that gave him
the ability to just

come and go as he pleased.

So he looked older
for his age.

He could go into casinos,
gamble.

You could get free drinks
while you're gambling.

It was perfect
and nobody questioned him.

[ominous music]

- Joran is a teenager,

17-year-old teenager
like every other boy.

He's a very honest boy.
He's very sincere.

Why--why would a boy who
has enough friends,

who has a normal life
going on,

why would a boy do something
wrong to a girl he just met?

The truth will come out.

And when I look at this boy,

I only can say
he's telling the truth.

[somber music]

* *

- Next day, the police found
her vehicle in an alley.

[police siren wailing]

* *

- [speaking Spanish]

[ominous music]

* *

- [speaking Spanish]

* *

* *

* *

- He had changed his appearance
by the time he got to the car.

He shaved his hair somewhat.
He had dyed it.

[electricity buzzing]

He had changed his clothes.

He knew that everyone was
looking for him at that point.

* *

* *

* *

- As you know, our primary goal
is to bring Natalee back home.

We will do whatever it takes.

There is a significant reward

for the person who
returns Natalee to us safely.

* *

Please help bring her home.

* *

- The disappearance
of Natalee Holloway

topped the ratings
over the Iraq War.

I mean, the fascination
with the story

was like nothing we'd ever
seen, you know, since OJ.

[overlapping chatter]
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

- [bleep].
- Can you give us a statement?

- Hey, hey, hey.
- Talk to us.

[overlapping chatter]

- It was the perfect storm.

- But let's go to Michelle
Kosinski for the very latest.

Michelle,
what's been going on today?

- Today was really
about emotion.

First, we saw
Natalee Holloway's mother,

Beth, go--

- There are so many aspects
to it

that grip people's attention.

There's the mystery of it.

There's the sympathetic fear of
I'm a parent,

I send my kids away
to camp or whatever,

and you tell yourself, oh,
what are the odds, you know.

And then something happens
like on this level.

You can't stop watching.

And you want
everything to be OK,

but you kind of know it isn't.

And then you want to know
who did it and why.

- We have no information,
no clothing,

no foot marks, no blood,

nothing to go off of
to be able to dictate

what happened
to this literal angel.

* *

- They can find the haystack,
we can find the needles,

so the problem is
where's the haystack?

* *

[metal detector warbling]

- The FBI was here.

[indistinct radio chatter]

Search dogs were here.

[dogs barking]

The Dutch army even
flew over Aruba

with special airplanes
that could detect heat.

[F-16 roaring]

- Summer 2005 was
a complete roller-coaster

with media because it would
be this person has this lead.

- The security camera
at a gas station

reportedly caught an image

of what someone thought was
Natalee Holloway.

- Then it was big hopes,
super exciting.

And in my mind,
I was like, oh, my gosh,

we could talk to her tomorrow.

- We know that
she's on the island.

It really feels strongly
that she's

being kept against her will.

- Well, you know, and it was
so thrilling and so exciting.

- It turned out
those blonde hairs

that were found on duct tape

a few weeks ago were
not Natalee's.

- Crash.
Nothing.

[somber music]

- I had that gut feeling that,
uh...

just as a parent,
you just have that feeling

that she's not here anymore.

But on the other hand, I had
to convince everybody else

that I had the wrong feelings,

that maybe we would find her
alive or whatever.

But I had that sinking feeling
that things aren't right.

- I remember my dad jumping
down into a landfill

and just physically ripping
open trash bags, garbage bags,

moving large appliances,

picking up stuff
with his bare hands

and just searching
for Natalee's body.

My dad was in that 100%

and seeing that was
really powerful.

[somber music]

- There's a lot of times
over the years

where sunglasses were
my best friend.

And, you know,

to hide the tears that were
running down your face.

So I started having
panic attacks,

and the attacks became so bad,

I thought I was going to have
a heart attack.

Sometimes you lose it
and you start

just digging in a sand dune
or--

let's look in this hole,
you know,

knowing that
there's nothing there,

you know, but let's do it.

* *

- It's just really hard
to be around

that kind of loss and emotion.

[shakily] Like, that kind
of loss, it's so awful.

[sighs shakily]

It's so deep and you're around
it day after day, you know.

* *

- Authorities continue
to question

three men Holloway was
last seen with.

- Dutch teen,
Joran van der Sloot,

and Surinamese brothers,
Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

All three men
apparently acknowledged

giving her a ride
back to her hotel

the night of her
disappearance.

- They had interviewed
the three suspects,

and they said the route
they took

was around the lighthouse,
and then they came back

and dropped her off in
the lobby of the Holiday Inn.

The surveillance footage of
the Holiday Inn was viewed

and we found out that she
did not return to the hotel.

- There is absolutely
no footage of her

anywhere outside of the hotel.

There's no car
dropping her off.

And at this point,

Joran van der Sloot's story
begins to change.

[suspenseful music]

So now he claims that
he took Natalee to the beach

and that he left Natalee
at the beach.

- I-I thought maybe
she'd understand.

She told me, no, she wanted
me to stay there with her

because the next
day she was leaving

and she wanted to stay there
the whole night.

I told her, no, I had to go.

I even--I even lifted her up
to carry her back to her hotel.

And she told me
to put her down.

* *

- And he claims that he called
one of the Kalpoe brothers,

Deepak, to come
and pick him up.

And that he went home.

* *

But...

* *

Police had gone back
and they were able to discover

that, in fact, Deepak was home
that night on his computer.

And at some time
after 3:00 a.m.,

Joran had sent him a message
saying, I'm home.

[AIM notification chimes]

- The story was unraveling.

As pieces of evidence came in
that worked against him,

he would switch his story.

- I would love for someone
to come and tell me

if there's anything worse
I did because

I've never touched a girl in
an aggressive way in my life.

- Truly pathological liars,
that's exactly how they lie.

When the lie is disproven,

you turn around
and tell another lie

without even stopping
to catch your breath.

That's true
pathological lying.

- How did you feel
when you left her?

- Well, at the time I didn't--

I didn't feel
it was a bad idea.

At the time, I really didn't.

- You know, like you don't
care about the truth.

I think one of the early
pictures I saw of him,

he had a little bit of a smirk
on his face...

[camera shutter clicks]

Which I remember thinking
was a little bit surprising

for somebody who was being,
you know,

falsely accused of a terrible
crime you didn't commit.

- What was the last thing
that she said to you?

- Um--I--she didn't say
any last thing to me.

The last thing I said to her
was bye.

- He came across as cocky
and not caring.

It didn't faze him at all.

I think Joran felt untouchable

because of his father's status
on the island.

- How's he doing?

- Paulus has
a very close relationship

to the Chief of Police,
van der Straaten.

They know each other
from the Netherlands

and there was speculation
that Chief van der Straaten

is Joran van der Sloot's
godfather.

- This is my name,
Commissioner van der Straaten.

- And at some point, we learn
that a meeting has taken place

at the van der Sloot home
between Paulus van der Sloot,

his son, Joran,
and the two Kalpoe brothers.

- The prosecutor's office
let us know that

Joran van der Sloot's father

allegedly told
all three of the boys

that without a body,
there is no case.

- It is believed
that Paulus was

counseling the three of them
to not say anything,

not speak to police.

Because if there is no body,
there is no crime.

[indistinct chatter]

At that point, suspicion
starts to really move

to Joran's father, Paulus.

- Is there anything
you'd like to say?

- What does he know?
What is he counseling his son?

Are they trying
to get their story straight?

There's a belief that perhaps
Paulus was directly involved

in whatever it was

that happened to Natalee's body
after she died.

* *

[tense music]

[waves sloshing]

* *

- 11 days after
Natalee disappeared,

police arrested Joran
the very day

he was supposed to have
graduated from high school.

- Finally, finally,

Joran van der Sloot is arrested
under suspicion of murder.

* *

- There's a lot of questions
about why now.

Authorities are saying that

they are doing everything
methodically, carefully,

and by the book.

- There was no real piece
of evidence

linking him
to Natalee's disappearance.

But unlike our system where
you need to have evidence,

in the Dutch system,

you are able to hold somebody
under suspicion.

- It's called a
preventive detention.

And during that period is when
the investigation goes deeper.

* *

- With no real evidence
to further this case,

police were really
looking at ways

to try and get him to speak.

And they did countless
interviews with him.

These were intense
multi-hour interrogations.

- The interrogations,
of course,

were horrible
because they put--

they put stuff in your head.

They really try and
make you look guilty,

even if you're not guilty.

- No matter who was
interviewing Joran,

he would tell a story,
and it would feel

as though he was getting
to the point

where he was going
to perhaps confess.

And then he would
always pull back,

and the story would
go off on a tangent.

And there would be
details that would come in

that were not there before.

And all of a sudden,
he's pointing the finger

at the Kalpoe brothers...

* *

That they knew that he had
gone home

and he had left Natalee
at the beach.

And perhaps one of them
went back to the beach...

and he killed Natalee.

- Just dancing circles
around the investigators.

He seemed to be
enjoying himself.

He knew there was
no body to find.

His father had told
him, no body, no crime.

- How you doing, Joran?

- And he never once
admitted to this crime.

And so people on the island
would say, well, you know,

he was interrogated.

He didn't admit it,
maybe he didn't do it.

Or maybe he's a sociopath.

* *

[dramatic music]

* *

[indistinct chatter]

* *

[chatter and laughter]

- Joran van der Sloot,
jailed since June 7th...

Now a free man.
[light applause]

He returned home to cheers
from friends and family.

- If they suspect that
you're a part of a crime,

it's up to the prosecutor to
gather additional information.

If they don't,
then they're set free.

And no new evidence
was presented.

So, on September 3, 2005,
they let him go.

Joran was the last person
seen with my daughter.

He knows what happened.

And now he's free and clear.

- Joran looked at a very
bright future, just graduated,

accepted at a lot
of universities

and was ready to go
to Tampa to study.

His life has been turned
upside down completely.

I hope that everyone
gives Joran a chance

to continue his life.

- For lying,
I probably deserved to be

in that jail for three months.

But I did not do anything
against the law, and...

they have to let you go.

They have to let me get on
with my life.

* *

- I want to thank everyone
for coming.

- The day that Joran
was released from prison

was a real turning point,

you know, for Beth, for Dave,

for anybody who was hoping

for any kind of justice
for Natalee.

What it was basically
telegraphing to everybody

was...

he got away with this.

- For the rest of my life,

I will continue to be
the voice for my daughter,

seeking justice in Aruba.

Every parent would want
the same justice

for their child.

Thank you.

We didn't think there
was a chance in hell

that Joran would get out--
absolutely not.

Joran is a time bomb
waiting to go off.

And it truly concerns me
that another young female

would fall victim to this.

So I think the safest place
for Joran to be

and for his potential victims
to be

would be for him
to be behind bars.

He does not need to have
another young female

fall victim to his actions.

* *

[car horn honks]

* *

- The Flores family

is becoming
more and more desperate.

They've got the news
of who this kid is.

The more and more
time slips away,

something terrible
has happened.

They know it in their hearts.

[machines ringing]

* *

* *

* *

[bell tolls]

* *

[phone ringing]

[indistinct chatter]

[bell tolling]

- One of the suspects

in Natalee Holloway's
disappearance

left Aruba Monday.

Joran van der Sloot
left to attend college

in the Netherlands.

- Joran was supposed to go
to the United States.

He had a scholarship
to a college in Florida,

and he was going
to play tennis.

He was a fabulous tennis player
in Aruba.

And so, all of a sudden,

his whole life also is upended.

- His parents send him
back to the Netherlands,

where he enrolls
in school there.

And the media--intense media
is still following him.

- In a sort of weird way,

he liked
the attention he was getting.

- Did you kill
Natalee Holloway?

- No.

- Everybody was talking
about this case.

It went international,

and I think that he would say
anything just to keep

the limelight on himself.

- Joran van der Sloot

quickly figured out
how to manipulate the media.

I think out of the gate,
he realized

he could use this
to his advantage.

It was almost a cat-and-mouse
game with him and the media,

but as we know,
that game became

very, very dangerous later on.

[dramatic music]

- Now for more on what
could be a major development

in the disappearance
of Natalee Holloway.

This Dutch reporter claims

that he has solved
the Natalee Holloway case,

that he
has a confession on tape.

- We did
a hidden-camera operation.

- Peter de Vries
was a Dutch journalist,

and, obviously,
he was hot on this story.

- And he is going to make it
his mission

to get Joran to confess.

Peter de Vries connects
with a gentleman

named Patrick van der Eem.

And Patrick
has befriended Joran,

and he's convinced
that he can get Joran

to confess.

So they end up
concocting a situation

in which Joran is in a car

that they rigged
with cameras and audio.

- And, yeah...

* *

- In this particular version
of events,

he was with Natalee
at the beach,

and she began convulsing.

And she fell unconscious.

He believed that she was dead,

and he called a friend,
who came with a boat.

- [speaking Dutch on TV]

- We all gathered
at a friend's house,

had this big screen that
we were going to watch it on.

It was wild to watch.

- [speaking Dutch]

- In that interview,
he said Natalee is dead.

So that was the first time

that I had really, like, heard
that out loud.

I need to start to come
to terms with that.

* *

- I wanted to come
through the TV and kill him.

I wanted to peel
his skin off his face.

- I mean, it was like,

how could somebody be so cruel
and inhumane?

I was shell-shocked.

It was a good thing
there was an ocean

between us and Holland,

because I would have come
after him.

- He shows absolutely
no remorse.

He shows
such a lack of concern.

At this point, we're seeing
how dark of a young man

Joran van der Sloot
was becoming.

- And in my mind, case closed.

That was that.
We got the information.

- The authorities
looked into it.

- Joran van der Sloot
was questioned

by Aruban and Dutch police
on Friday.

It happened less than a week
after a Dutch TV program aired

a hidden-camera interview
with van der Sloot,

saying he was with the missing
Alabama teen when she died.

During his questioning,
van der Sloot insisted

he was under the influence
of marijuana

during the interview

and denied any role
in Holloway's disappearance.

- Even if a person
confesses to a crime,

you need extra evidence
in order to charge.

- He was very cocky
during the interrogations.

- But I do think that he knew

that they wouldn't be able
to frame anything on him.

- Why?
Because somebody helped him...

somebody very close to him...

very, very close to him.

Nobody else would take
that risk.

* *

- Tonight,
the incredible new twist

in the Natalee Holloway
investigation.

Joran van der Sloot goes on
the record with a shocking talk

of what he says happened
to Natalee Holloway

the night she disappeared
from Aruba.

- In 2008, I had a meeting with
Greta Van Susteren, my boss.

And she said she had received
an email from Joran.

And I was to fly to Thailand

and meet with him.

At this point,
his life was in turmoil.

He was a gambling addict,

and he was desperate
for money.

He had a friend in Thailand,
and he ended up in Thailand.

My assignment
was to track him down

and secure an interview.

But the conditions of that were

we were going
to pay him $25,000

to tell us what happened
to Natalee Holloway.

I knew he wanted the money,
but here was the problem.

Going to Thailand
and giving somebody $25,000

is incredibly problematic.

There's a rule that you can
only legally take $5,000

with you into the country.

The rest of the money
had to come in

in $5,000 wire transfers.

There's a time difference,

and we can only do $5,000
in a 24-hour time period.

He was desperate,
and he wanted that money,

and he was growing
increasingly impatient.

So, in that time period,
I had to entertain him.

Being with Joran van der Sloot,
he's incredibly charming.

I had to constantly
remind myself

why I was there and who he was.

He was cordial.
He was funny.

But I realized how incredibly
dangerous of a situation

I was in.

He could have snapped on me.

I saw that in the hotel room.
He was incredibly agitated.

At one point, he asked me
to go get the money

out of my own personal account

because he couldn't wait
any longer.

So Greta arrives,
and we had no time to waste.

He's agitated and wants
to get this interview over

because he knows the faster
the interview is over,

the faster he's going
to get the payment.

- You met a guy in February
of three years ago

who said he was interested
in something.

What was he interested in?

- As the story unfolds,
he tells a tale...

- He was interested in me
bringing him a blonde girl.

- He had been in contact with
a guy from Venezuela,

met him at a casino,

and the guy said that,
you know, he would pay money

for American girls,
particularly blonde girls.

- And then he said to meet him
at the beach by the Marriott

if I ever got a girl and that
he would give me $10,000.

The day I met Natalee,
I remembered what he said.

- In the moment,
as the story is unfolding,

it's feasible.

* *

We all know human trafficking
is a huge problem.

So I'm putting the pieces
together in my head

that this is a possibility.

But what happens next
astounded all of us.

[car horns blaring]

After the interview, we're
on our way to the airport,

and Greta receives a text

that says, "Everything
I told you was a lie.

I just did it for the money."

Greta looks at me and says,
"What do you think?"

And I said, "I think
he's telling the truth here

for the first time."

- We still do not know which
version, if any, is the truth.

- We made the decision

to air the Joran van der Sloot
interview,

disclosing that we had paid him
the money.

And I think in our minds,

that was our way
of getting back at him

and showing the world
how dark he had become

and how he now had perfected

using the disappearance
of Natalee Holloway

to make himself money
to finance

his desperate
gambling addiction.

* *

- A potentially key witness
in the disappearance

of American teen
Natalee Holloway has died.

Paul van der Sloot
collapsed playing tennis.

- Joran gets a phone call
from his mother,

alerting him that his father
had a heart attack

and he died.

There was a lot of speculation

the intense pressure
and scrutiny

under which his son had put him

is what really led to him
having this heart attack.

- Joran literally throws
himself on the casket

and says, this is all my fault.

I did this to you.

Makes a big scene.

Whether it was an act
or whether it was sincere,

only Joran can
answer that question,

but he was visibly...

broken by the death
of his father.

- I don't know if a person
like Joran van der Sloot

has any kind of remorse.

But what we do know
was that his dad

was his rock for a long time,

to the point
that lots of people believe

that his dad helped him

cover up the body
of a young woman

so that it was
never seen again.

Whether his father helped
him out that night or not,

he had to have known
that his father

was always going
to support him.

And then that one person

was suddenly gone.

- So he comes back to Aruba,

and he moves back in
with his mother.

And it's my belief
that losing his father

really marked
another turning point

for Joran.

- If you don't think that this
story could get any darker,

stand by, because it does.

When he flies back to Aruba,

you would expect someone to be
mourning the loss of a parent,

assisting his mom.

Instead,
Joran van der Sloot is doing

the most horrific,
heinous thing

that you
could possibly imagine.

- He allegedly contacted
Natalee's mother in Alabama

and offered to tell her
what happened to her daughter,

including
where her remains are,

in exchange for a quarter
of a million dollars.

- He contacted me.

Hi, John, this is Joran.

Quickly got to the point

about, you know, he wants
to clear his soul,

clear his conscience

and really tell
what happened to Natalee

and stop the Holloway grief
and things like that.

But in exchange,
he would like $250,000.

* *

- The lack of emotions
that he has

when he is reaching out

to Beth Holloway
to get money from her,

knowing that this woman
lost her child...

he doesn't care.

There's no registration
of empathy.

And that's characteristic
psychopath right there.

- So I said,
let me talk to Beth.

I said,
I've got an idea, Beth.

I think I can do something.

If he takes money,
that's extortion.

If we can set it up
where a wire's part of it,

that's wire fraud.

We could, you know, get him
on both those counts,

U.S. charges, and, you know,
lock this guy up.

I called the FBI right away.
I said, let's do this.

Can we do this?

* *

Joran was like,
let's meet in Aruba.

You can bring
the first $25,000 with you,

and I'll give you
all the information.

Went down there, met with him.

[chuckling] You could tell
all he wanted to do

was get right to the point.

Like, did you bring the money?

I said, yes, I did, Joran.

I could only bring $10,000
in cash, so we're going to--

I'm going to give you $10,000

and have $15,000 wired by Beth.

We got the car
the FBI had provided me.

It was all rigged up
with video cameras

and audio cameras.

He pointed to one house,
said, this is the house.

That's where you're saying
Natalee's remains are?

He said yes.

Definitely.

My father
brought me here one day

and showed me this location.

He told me
that he had gone home

and told his father
what happened,

and he had driven back
with his father

and pointed out
where Natalee was.

Paulus had told Joran
to wait in the car,

and Joran understood
that his dad had gone down,

pulled Natalee further
into the brush,

and covered her with a couple
pieces of large cardboard

and left her there.

And then he said, I don't know
if my dad came back

the next night
or two nights later,

got her body,
and disposed of it then.

I thought it was all bullshit
right from the start,

'cause his dad was dead.

Joran loves giving information
that can't be verified,

you know, so this was just
one more, you know, spoke

in the wheel of lies of his.

The FBI had told me
they knew it was a hoax

because they had
satellite photos

of the area
where the house was,

showing that it was
still undeveloped land

at that point in 2005.

That was that, and...

I went back to the hotel.

FBI guys were all ecstatic,
and they said, great job.

We've got it all on videotape.
We've got it all on audiotape.

And...

nothing happened.

I don't know
why they didn't pick him up.

It was like, guys, you got
the whole thing videotaped

and audiotaped--
what are you doing?

And I start getting emails
from Joran.

You seem like a really
nice man, Mr. Kelly,

but I'm sorry
I did this to you.

I lied about the whole thing.

You know, thank
you for the money.

It's all about money.

- Now he is spending all
of his time at the casino.

You know, he's really heavily
into gambling.

His mood is very dark.

Anita is very concerned,

and she's convinced

that it is because
he's just lost his father,

perhaps there's some guilt.

And she convinces him

that he really needs help,

more than she can provide
for him.

And somehow she gets him
to agree

to sign himself in
to a facility

back in the Netherlands,

where he's going
to get some help.

Anita was completely convinced
her son was going.

He was packed.
His bags were ready.

And when she came
to his room...

she found an empty bedroom...

and his luggage was gone.

But there was a note that
Joran left for his mother,

explaining that he
had gone to Peru

and that he was going
to be participating

in a poker tournament there.

So, essentially,

the money that Joran
has extorted from Beth Holloway

ends up funding
Stephany Flores's murder.

* *

[siren wailing]

[dramatic music]

* *

[camera shutter clicking]

[camera shutter clicking]

[camera shutter clicks]

* *

- To batter somebody
that brutally,

you very likely would be
in a state of true rage,

or you would be somebody
who had a sadistic streak...

where you found it fun
to cause people

enormous amounts
of suffering or pain.

- The police go through
the surveillance tapes.

What happens is,
Stephany pulls up in her car.

She's parked at such an angle,

you know, right by
the front door of the hotel.

It's not a space
you would park in

if you were going to stay
for a while.

She walks in,
she looks kind of angry.

This was not a happy visit.

This was not a tryst
in a hotel room.

It looked like they were going
there to pick up something.

The next thing you see is
Joran pop out of the room

some time later.

He goes
to a local coffee shop.

He picks up two cups of coffee
like he's bringing some coffee

back to the room for his date.

He's aware
of the cameras, too.

You know, he looks
straight up at it.

He was trying to establish
an alibi--

you know, why would I bring
two cups of coffee

if she was dead?

And he goes back in the room,
thinks about what to do

and, ultimately, just packs up
his stuff, gets in her car,

and just disappears.

And he drives
not far from the hotel,

and he abandons the car.

* *

And it was a high crime area.

He dropped the car off
in a place

that would maybe throw
the police off the scent.

And that bought him some time.

- There's no panic.
There's no fear.

There's premeditation.
There's methodical planning.

He was very calm, cool,
collected,

made a plan.

That takes a lot
of meticulousness,

and you only get that
with experience.

* *

* *

- He's such an easy liar,
and he seems to lie for fun.

And after years,

it became like a game to him.

He really seemed to...

get off on having everybody
hang on his every word

and then be disappointed when
they find out it's just a lie.

- There's a thrill to the lie,

and there's a thrill in knowing

that you can make anyone
believe anything is true.

This is entertainment for him.

The victims
are inconsequential.

The larger impacts
to their family,

society, it doesn't matter.

* *

- Well, it's a name we'd hoped

we'd never have to hear again--
Joran van der Sloot.

- Right now police think
Joran van der Sloot

may be in Chile, where
they're looking for him

as their chief suspect
in the murder of a young woman,

a murder they think happened
five years to the day

after Joran van der Sloot
was the last person

to be seen
with Natalee Holloway.

* *

- He's in another cab...

passing through a toll booth.

You know, curled up
on the floor of the back seat.

The sharp-eyed person
at a toll booth looks down--

this is suspicious--
and calls it in.

And right there, it's over.

- We knew this case
was the Twilight Zone

for so many reasons.

It's staggering.

Like, another girl
on the anniversary?

Like, on the exact same day?

- At Stephany's funeral
and burial Thursday,

her father got down on
one knee for a farewell kiss

to his beloved daughter.

* *

- I sort of felt
like I had blood on my hands.

I started the wheels
in motion,

where he took the 25 grand,

wanted to play
in a poker tournament

over in South America,

and that's where he met
Stephany Flores.

* *

You know, I connected
a lot of dots,

but, it was a heavy burden.

- Joran! Joran! Joran!
- Joran!

- And it ended horribly wrong,
you know, on all fronts.

- His first statement
to the Chilean police is,

he's been set up by corrupt
Peruvian police officers.

There were just a couple
of rogue cops

that were harassing him,
following him,

shaking him down for money.

You know, these are the guys
you should be looking at.

It's always somebody else.

It's one of his friends.
It's his father.

It's the cops.

It's Joran playing the victim.

- He just seemed to have,
like, two middle fingers

up to the world.

Maybe once you reach
that point

and you know that you did
something so horrible

and it finally caught up
with you...

maybe you just
don't care anymore.

[person speaking Spanish]

- He wasn't talking his way
out of this case.

It was clear as day that he
had murdered Stephany Flores.

He was out in the open now.

We saw his true colors.
We saw who he was.

* *

- He was probably adrift

and wanted to tell the world,

you think that I'm
this terrible murderer?

OK, that's what I will be.
I will do this again.

* *

[distant siren wailing]

* *

- She had caught wind
of who he was,

and things escalated.

I'm imagining she probably
just wanted to get

out of the room at that point.

And, you know, the rest is,
you know, just kind of a blur.

And he just went savage
on her.

[gavel bangs]

[gavel bangs]

- He's convicted and sentenced
to 28 years in prison.

They don't convict people
to life sentences

like we would here.

There's always room
for rehabilitation, release,

even for a murderer like this.

[reporters shouting]

[somber music]

- His new address--
a maximum-security prison,

home to Peru's
most notorious killers,

rapists, and terrorists.

[cell door closes]

[dramatic music]

- Initially,
we thought Peruvian prison

has to be horrifying.

I mean, that was
what we told ourselves--

like, there's no way
he'll survive.

- Look, he's like a chameleon.

You know, he's able to adjust.

It's a lot different than
the American prison system.

It's a little more porous.

People can come in
during the day--

wives, girlfriends, vendors.

And so that allows him access
to the outside world.

- It's not like he looks
like he's flourishing in Peru,

by any means.

But learning that he has had
the opportunity

to be married

is mind-blowing to me.

Somehow he's been allowed to
bring a child into this world.

* *

[dramatic music]

* *

[reporters shouting]

- That always happens,
doesn't it?

They see
this attractive guy on TV,

and they get wrapped up
in the danger

or the, like, romance of,

is he an innocent victim,
or who is he really?

Or maybe it's, I can fix him.

- It is disgusting that he's
been able to have a wife.

He can have pen pals.
He can father a child.

- Those were all things
that Natalee Holloway

was never able to do.

It's a shame.

[indistinct chatter
over police radio]

[indistinct chatter in Spanish]

* *

- People who are psychopathic

will often have multiple
romantic partners at once.

You do often see
what's called

sort of impersonal
sexual behavior.

So, engaging
in sexual relations

that don't seem
to be associated

with any kind
of a deep attachment.

You see conning
and manipulation,

because, again, you see
other people as instruments

to get what you want.

[cell door closes]

* *

- He knows what his targets
want to hear,

and that's all they are--
they're targets.

And, ultimately,
they're transactions.

He's getting
something out of them.

* *

* *

* *

* *

- Even when he's in prison,

he's not turning
his life around

and telling the truth

and wanting to be
a good new person.

No, he's starting
a cocaine-trafficking ring

inside of the prison.

Why does he want to be
so dark?

I just don't understand why...

for this human being

with so much promise
and intelligence

and, like, a future

and a path and a good family--

why does he always choose
the dark side?

[siren wailing]

A- Nada.

[wailing continues]

* *

- Almost two decades

after Natalee Holloway's
haunting disappearance,

the prime suspect in the case,
Joran van der Sloot,

touching down tonight
in Birmingham, Alabama.

- Joran van der Sloot
always wanted to come

to the United States.

Well, here he is.

- Van der Sloot
was never charged

in Holloway's disappearance,

but he is accused of offering
to tell Natalee's family

how she died
and where she was buried

in exchange
for a quarter million dollars.

- The only negotiating tool
that Joran van der Sloot has

is the truth about what
happened to Natalee Holloway.

Once he gives that information
up, he's worthless.

He's meaningless.

He has nothing left.

- Today Natalee's mother
issuing a statement,

saying she's hopeful that some
small semblance of justice

will finally be realized.

- The extradition
of John van der Sloot

back to the United States

is something
that Beth's been working on

since Natalee disappeared.

It's her second-best shot.

Her first-best shot
would be the recovery

of her daughter's body.

Her next-best chance
are these extortion charges.

- Long time coming.

All this time,
every corner, twist, turn,

it's like, here we are.

18 years later, my mom
is standing in the courthouse

within feet of the guy
that killed my sister.

* *

We were all
on the edge of our seats.

I just wanted him to say
that, yes...

I killed Natalee.

[dramatic music]

* *

[indistinct chatter]

* *

- How does it feel?
- It feels good.

It's a nice day.

It's a good day for judgment.

- Hoping to get answers today?

- Joran van der Sloot
has never been charged

in the death
of Natalee Holloway.

However, the Holloway family
attorney says

that he is expected today,
Savannah,

to accept a plea deal related
to wire fraud

and extortion charges, assuming
he tells federal authorities

how Natalee Holloway died

and the manner in which
her body was disposed of.

* *

- I feel like the whole world
was in that courtroom with us.

I mean, I could just feel it.

[gavel bangs]
It's like, here we are.

This is the big moment

where we're finally getting

some semblance
of justice for Natalee.

I just wanted him to say that,
yes, I killed Natalee,

and that's what we got.

* *

- When Beth stood up
and read her statement

and read parts
of what he had done...

it felt like the wind
had been knocked out of me.

It was intense,

and you could just, like, feel
that energy.

And I would say
the most difficult part

was how violent the description
of her death was.

* *

- Deepak drops me off
at a place

known as the fishermen's huts.

I'm actually with Natalee
walking along the beach.

We lay down together
in the sand,

and we start
kissing each other.

And I start
feeling her up again,

and she tells me no.

I insist. I keep feeling
her up either way.

And she knees me
in the crotch.

And I kick her extremely hard
in the face.

* *

She's laying down unconscious,

possibly even dead,
but definitely unconscious.

* *

And right next to her,

there's a huge cinder block

laying on the beach.

I take this, and...

I smash her head in
with it completely.

* *

Yeah, her face basically,
you know, collapses in.

I'm scared.
I don't know what to do.

So I grab her,

and I push her off...

into the sea.

* *

[indistinct chatter]

- Today I can tell you
with certainty

that after 18 years,

Natalee's case is solved.

As far as I'm concerned,
it's over.

It's over.

Joran van der Sloot
is no longer the suspect

in my daughter's murder.

He is the killer.

That was all verified

by a comprehensive
and conclusive polygraph test.

We finally--

today we got justice
for Natalee.

Thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you, everybody.

[indistinct chatter]

- Beth Holloway was satisfied.
- Mm-hmm.

- For so many years,

she's gotten
all these different stories.

But listening to her,
you got the sense

that she believed
what he said

about the fate
of her daughter.

* *

- Hearing him in my hometown

saying he was Natalee's killer,

I'm really trying
to lean into...

the acceptance of,
that's our level of closure.

But a sociopath
will gain pleasure

from someone else's pain,

so it doesn't surprise me

that his story
was incredibly gruesome

and specific.

- One thing that
psychopaths can do is,

they can add details
and embellishments

to trigger an emotion
from people.

I think the cinder-block idea
isn't true necessarily

because that would be evidence
you could find.

You'd find a missing
cinder block

if he tried to get rid of it
somewhere.

* *

- I think there will always
be lingering questions

and people will have
their doubts

about Joran's confession.

* *

Anything released
along those beaches

would end up being pulled back
into shore no matter what.

That's the way
the current runs.

It'd just have slowly drifted
right back onto the sand

and gone nowhere.

That's not what happened.

That's not
how she was disposed of.

I'm convinced of that.

- It just feels
like common sense

that there had to have been
some type of extra...

outside help

to ultimately make sure
that this--

Natalee goes away
and is never found.

And that's where I believe
his dad played the part.

- The judge
sentenced van der Sloot

to 20 years behind bars
to run concurrently

with the sentence that he is
already serving right now

in Peru.

- When he finishes his murder
sentence for Stephany Flores,

he'll just be a free man,
unless he gets out early.

Then he would have to come
to the United States

and serve jail .

* *

- The concurrent sentence
that Joran was given,

he'd be getting out
at 57 years old.

He's going to have a full life
ahead of him still.

He might even have
grandchildren.

But Beth went along.
She wanted the answers.

* *

- "A" camera mark.

- The way the murder
was described,

Natalee never knew
what happened,

you know, never knew
what hit her.

It was immediate and painless
for her the way it sounded,

so maybe there was
a comfort in that.

* *

- You said something to me
that it really struck me.

You said that this is
better than closure.

- It is.

- Why is this
better than closure?

- You know, for me, closure
is not what I got.

I got, it's over, it's solved.

Joran van der Sloot
is the murderer.

The not knowing is more
torturous than the knowing.

The not knowing
is the never-ending nightmare,

and that's worse.
- But now you do know.

And the knowing is horrific

in terms of the details
of what he did.

- It is. It is.

It is, and it's shocking to us
to think that somebody

is capable of doing that.

- Do you think 20 years
is enough time?

- I don't think
any victim's family

is going to think ever
an amount of time is enough.

So here's what I have to take
comfort in--is what I needed,

and I needed the answers as
to what happened to Natalee.

So I feel like now
I can kind of, like...

Oh.
[chuckles emotionally]

Oh.
Now I can focus on that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- Are you
properly buckled, honey?

Oh, you're not!
[laughing]

- Got that one.

- When you look
at the collateral damage

on the Holloway family,

his family,
the island of Aruba,

the Flores family,

it's unbelievable
that one individual

can create such chaos
and havoc.

[somber music]

- All I can think about

is where Natalee
would have fit in.

We've all been bridesmaids
in everybody's wedding.

We all take our kids
to the same parks

that we grew up going to,

and she was senselessly
never given that opportunity.

It would have been her
with us.

And, also, I wonder
what kind of doctor

she would have been

so I could call and be like,
my kid's ear hurts.

You know, what do I do?

I mean, she was
a dependable, amazing human.

* *

- I really wish
now that I'm older,

I could go back
and get to know who she was

those last few months,

because, man, you know,
I'll never get that back.

And I don't want people
to ever forget this.

I hope he's miserable.
It's what he deserves.

I definitely want
to talk to him.

And I definitely want
to whoop his ass.

Which one's going
to come first, I don't know.

I know there's
more to the story,

and there always will be.

And we got to keep digging.

Otherwise, it's all in vain.

I owe it to my family

and to Natalee.

I'm not going to stop.